buying a snowmobile

I have left a $500.00 deposit for a new snowmobile and now I don't want this sled. Am I entitled to a full refund? No contract was ever signed yet. The company says that I'm liable to cover the exspenses of this sled from another dealer other than the one who I originally started the deal with. I want my down payment back and they are fighting me on it. How do I get my money back?? I never signed anything yet. I am in IIlinois, and the dealer is in Erie PA. I appreciate all views to this problem Thank you Chris V.

[Edited by chrisstation-01 on 01-28-2001 at 06:37 PM]

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attotney client relationship.

What did they tell you about the 500 deposit? I am sure they gave you a receipt -- read the whole thing.

Did it mention anything about them being a volume dealer? or the 500 being kept as liquidated damages? under the Uniform Commercial Code, lost volumes like this (they could have sold this snowmobile plus others but they lost this sale), they can keep the 500 as their lost profit.

The lost volume seller measure of damages refers to the lost volume of business a nonbreaching seller incurs upon a buyer's breach. When a seller resells the entity it had expected to sell to an original buyer, it usually deprives itself of something of value--the sale to a new buyer of another similar entity.

In order to qualify as a lost volume seller and recover for lost profits, a seller must establish three factors: (1) that it possessed the capacity to make an additional sale, (2) that it would have been profitable for it to make an additional sale, and (3) that it probably would have made an additional sale absent the buyer's breach.


Courts have "unanimously" held that a lost volume seller can recover lost profits under § 2-708(2) of the Uniform Commercial Code